Victoria Gateway – London Plane Tree

Whilst the original plans for the Victoria Gateway Scheme required the removal of all trees from the roundabout it subsequently appeared possible to save this one tree which was therefore left in place when the others were removed.

However due to circumstances entirely beyond the Council’s control it has now been forced to adjust the scheme, part of the £25m Better Southend initiative, resulting in the necessity of removing the remaining London Plane.

Cllr Holdcroft said: “In March 2009, prior to the commencement of the Victoria Gateway scheme, the Council spoke to all the affected utility companies to establish the extent of their cabling networks in the area. On the basis of the information we received at that time it appeared possible to retain this tree.

“However it was only recently - many months later - that British Telecom provided us with full details of its fibre-optic cabling network and this revealed a very different situation.

“The extent of this network was such that had the Council continued with its original plans 80 per cent of BT’s telecommunications network in the town would have been disrupted.

“Re-routing BT’s fibre-optic network would also have required re-cabling over a distance of 2kms for each affected fibre.

“Not only would this have added an additional £1m to the cost of the scheme, which would not have been funded by the Government, but it would also have knocked the March 2011 completion date back by at least four months with serious financial ramifications for the Council.”

“The money allocated for the scheme by central Government has to be spent by March next year or any unspent funds are clawed back.

“That would have left Council Tax payers in the Borough having to pick up the cost of completing the works, which would have been approximately £2m, and clearly have been a totally unacceptable situation.

“The Council has been left with no alternative other than to realign the Victoria Gateway scheme to avoid the BT network, which sadly means removing the London Plane.

“We looked at every possible way of avoiding the need to do this but in the end it simply wasn’t possible without huge cost implications.

“The Council’s contractors were tasked to remove the tree without chopping it into sections. It is hoped the trunk can be used as the foundation for a work of public art.

“We remain committed to increasing the numbers of healthy trees across the Town and the Victoria Gateway scheme includes extensive replanting and landscaping.”